Variable 1: The Martian Cache
First off, we do not know how intact the Martian cache was, relative to what other species were able to uncover. Though, evidence scarce in this area, there is actually a key tidbit during the beginning of ME1. When Anderson briefs Shepard on the Eden Prime beacon, he gives the estimation that it could potentially provide similar technical advancements as the Martian cache, estimating the overall gain from the cache at 200 years of technological advancement. This in and of itself does not mean a whole lot until you notice the point that the Council is sending Nihlus, a Spectre, with a cutting edge stealth frigate and compliment of Alliance Marines, to retrieve it.
This is actually a huge amount of resources, and a great deal of secrecy, for something that is estimated to have similar value as the Martian cache, and implies that the Martian cache may have been exceptional in its operating status and/or available data.
Variable 2: Enforced Stagnation
The Council, by its nature and the fact that it is led by the Asari, is not a shining beacon of progress. The Asari, by nature of being a long-lived species, would not be prone to embracing change in the same way that every new generation of Humans would. Asari are more prone to 'outliving' their opponents and waiting for favorable conditions, rather than making high-stakes gambles that the more short-lived species would. Through the Council, the Asari have managed to place into effect many policies that also encourage this tendency as well as preventing high-risk ventures.
The policy that started the First Contact War is a prime example of the council actively obstructing progress of the galactic community as a whole. By making illegal the activation of unmapped relay pairs, galactic exploration is drastically limited, especially since some of those relays bridge stellar gaps that are impractical for conventional FTL to traverse. The nominal purpose of this policy is to prevent another Rachni War.
However, not opening a relay pair because one side is not mapped does nothing to prevent someone on the other side from activating the relay pair on its own, meaning that at best, not opening the relay pair out of fear of the Rachni is the equivalent of sticking their head in the sand so they don't need to acknowledge that a threat is coming, until it is razing their worlds. The only practical purpose that the policy serves is to prevent species from expanding w/o Council approval.
This desire to maintain the status quo has also applied to technology, such as the treaty of Firaxan limiting fleet sizes and the genetic engineering laws, which are ignored in Medi-Gel's case. AI research is another example of the council's fear of change preventing technical advancements
Humans, however, having been outside the Galactic community and its culture of stagnation, has, over the past few decades, bent, or even broke, the rules that unduly limit progress. We have not yet assimilated the stagnant nature of Citadel culture, and have continued to press any advantage we can find, which is disconcerting to the older, more complacent species, and is why we are seen as excessively aggressive in our expansion as well as assimilating technology, gained through trade, and advancing it beyond what the other species have.
There is a fundamental cultural difference.
Variable 3: Human biological traits
Not all species are created equal, especially if they do not share many generations of evolution within the same habitat where they were constantly competeing with each other. ME actually reflects this point, mainly with the Krogan and the Rachni.
Both species had traits, including high birth-rate, that made them exceptionally difficult for the Citadel Species to counter, even with all of their diplomatic and scientific skill. These traits evolved in these two specis because their home-worlds were extremely dangerous, killing all but the most fit. While Earth is hardly a death-world similar to Tchuchanka, Humanity has been fighting each other with only brief pauses for the last 5k+ years. The Asari necessarily evolve slower due to their slow progress toward sexual maturity, and the other species appear to have been unified for a significantly longer time that the Systems Alliance has existed.
It is not unreasonable to consider the posibility that Humans are actually intrinsically superior in terms of being able to compete than other species, similar, but to a lesser degree, as the Rachni and Krogan before the Genophage. We are an alien species introduced into a ecosystem that has not yet adapted to us, similar to how certain plants and animals have been introduced to different continents on Earth in the past.
Granted, we are equally likely to be in over our heads and getting wiped out as overwhelming our new enviroment, but as I said, these are simply variables that cannot be ignored in honest analysis.
Variable 4: Population Density
It would seem that Earth had a relatively high population density prior to our expansion to other worlds. There are actually several points of note that imply this throughout both games.
The First Contact War is the first example of Humanity being outside expected parameters. The the Turians conqured Shanxi, they presumed that its fleet was the bulk of the Human forces, and that they had captured a major, if not the main human world. Shanxi had a scant population of a few million at best, meaning that the Turians believed that a few million is plenty of population to encourage a population to achieve interstellar travel.
Secondly, Thane mentions that the Drell homeworld suffered a massive population crash because they were unable to gain access to Eezo-based FTL, and that their population density was at a similar level as Earth just prior to finding the Martian cache. This means that humanity dodged a bullet regarding our population density, and managed to get off-world just in time to avoid 'critical mass'.
Finally, the Codex mentions that Humanity is considered a 'sleeping giant' because only 3% of our population enters into military service, yet we remain actively competative on the font of military power regardless.
The implications of this are subtle, but there, none the less. Most species apparently are not at the crisis point of population on their home-world when they obtain Eezo-based FTL. The premise of exceptional population levels at the begining of our interstellar travels, if true, would explain how Humanity has been able to present such a relatively large military presense and expand faster than most species.
[u]Conclusion[u]
I am not presenting this as how the writers have decided that the ME universe exists, but that they have not included things that are explicitly counter to these possibilities, and there are implications that they may have, in fact, considered them. More to the point is that these potential variables still exist, and present very practical reasons to explain how Humanity has been able to rise to the point of galactic hegemon in such a relatively short period of time.
TL;DR
We don't know enough to claim that humans rising to prominance as quickly as we have is unreasonable or not.
Modifié par SandTrout, 13 septembre 2011 - 07:42 .
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